The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-04-30

his children lmpartially, and cannot in
his very nature of justice, mercy, and
infinite love, allow any part of his great
family Of children to iDjure each other,
without his displeasure and Christening
hand being laid upon the offender, and
that even in severity, and seemingly,
without remedy. Such wrong and
crime against man, where it is wilful,
brings guilt to the offender, as well as
evil consequences and merited punish
ment. And that guilt remains upon
the criminal as long as the sin remains
un-atoned for, and unTepented of, by
such criminal. And were it hundred,
or thousand, or million years after
the criminal act, until sincere contrition
pervades the heart of the wrong doer,
and firm purpose to atone for the act
to the extent of his power, is fixed in
his mind, and firm resolve never to
repeat this, or any similar wrong is
made, the perpetrator of the crime is the
same guilty, punishable rebel against hui
man rights, human justice, human law,
and human happiness, as he was at the
moment the crime was committed. And
because it was against human being;
against some of Gods children, it was
against God himself. AS it was in the
case of David's great sin, when in true
penitence and sorrow he exclaimed:
Against thee, thee only, have sinned
and done this evil in thy sight" Psalms
Ii. 81 Thus it is not only against God,
and man too, but God is particularly
concerned in the transgression Of every
law, inasmuch as his laws were not only
his own enactments but he so consti-
tuted his creatures that they could VIC
late his moral laws at will. And not
only this, but God knew that his laws
would be thus violated in every partic-
ular instance, and as whole, by all
mankind; and he knew all the ills, all
the sorrows, all the poverty, anguish,
ruin, and wretchedness, which would
follow the wrongs. He knew all the
robberies which would be committed,
all the murders which would be perpe-
trated, all the wars which would ravage
and devastate and drench the earth in
blood. He knew all the young and
unsuspecting who would be treacher-
ously seduced from the path of virtue,
and have their hearts, and hopes for
life, wrecked and crushed hopelessly in
irreparable ruin. He knew all the
traps where the unwary would be en-
shared in the tolls of the drinking sa-
loon, the gamblers den, and in the wiles
of the pimp, and the lecherous, to-
gether with all the devices of every
other erring man. All this was open
to Gods view; the murderer and his
victim the seducer and his prey the
red-handed war chief and the ruined
bleeding people; the drunkard- maker
and the helpless family; the tyrant
task master with his merciless lash;
and the bleeding, quivering, lacerated
flesh Of the unpaid slave. All, yes, all
every one was foreseen, understood
and provided for in the great plan.
And an atonement, full, free, ample,
unrestricted, universal, meeting all pos
sible emergencies, covering the wrong
ed, as we'll as the wrong-doer, was as
much part of the plan, as was that of
creation itself.
Yes, say the language of the creeds
of the middle ages 'God has provided
the blood of the cross, as a vicarious
offering to atone for the sins of the
saved, as a fitting substitute for the
just aud eternal punishment of the sins
of the transgressor, both original and
actual" Sin must be punished, either
in person or by substitute; so God
laid the penalty upon the person of
Jesus of Nazareth, which was due for
the sins of the whole world.
Jesus died, ''the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God" These
passages are supposed to teach that the
just punishment due for all sin, SO far
as the converted are concerned, was
laid upon the person of Jesus; and that
the shedding of his own blood, with the
sufferings of the garden, and the cross,
constitute just equivalent for all that
was due for the sins of the sinner be-
fore conversion; and thus these substi-
tuted sufferings constitute the vicari-
GUS atonementof Christ, without which |
no flesh could have been justified. And
that such substituted punishment con-
the sole ground of pardon, and |
human salvation. But punishment is
not in any sense, even in the remotest |
degree, an at ement for crime, or sin. |
If al the thousands and millions of |
sins and crimes were punished end
lessly, in the persons of the actual
or in the person of one,
Or a thousand spotless and immaculate
Christs, this would constitute in no
sense, whatever, an atonement for sin;
and no ground upon which to base a
pardon. Reformed purpose and char
acter are the only basis of real pardon
and remission of sin. Until purpose